Revellers travelled from around the world to experience the world famous street party. Thousands of revellers joined in with the ceilidhs on Princes Street, dancing to famous tunes such as the Gay Gordons and Dashing White Sergeant.

Rig Yun and his friend Sarah Ding, both 22, from China but studying in Coventry, were among the dancers. Mr Yun said: “New year is earlier here so we find it really exciting. We came to Scotland for new year because it is a very different experience. It’s much more exciting for us. In China, we don’t celebrate with dancing like this.”

Gona and Gail Govender, both 47, travelled from Durban, South Africa to see family. Mr Govender said: “We’re heading to Sweden and Norway on holiday so we came here on the way. We’ve not seen too much of the street party yet – we’ve mainly been drinking at the bar. It’s a bit quieter than New York, where we had new year before. There’s fewer celebrities in Edinburgh and it’s really chilly, but it’s still fun.”

American Shelley Romein, 39, has also previously celebrated in New York, but she said she preferred the vibe in Edinburgh. She said: “Edinburgh is a great place to Hogmanay. I’ve lived here since 2011 now so I’ve done the street party thing before and it’s a really good vibe . Americans can be quite insular about the whole thing so I’m not sure how many people are aware of how good it is here.”

Jenni Mitchell and Jonathan Lee, both from Newcastle joined Hillary Smith from Sequim, WA, USA and Una Taylor from Peebles to make a sparkly 2018''. Picture: Wullie Marr

Rag’n’Bone Man headlined Concert in the Gardens, with Declan McKenna and Nina Nesbitt as support acts, while those performing on the three Street Party stages include The Human League, Sacred Paws, Treacherous Orchestra and Huey Morgan.

The street party, hosted by Sanjeev Kohli, of the BBC’s Still Game, will also feature street performers, dancers, acrobats and fire-eaters.

Fireworks were launched from Edinburgh Castle at 9pm, 10pm and 11pm in a countdown to midnight, when a soundscaped fireworks display entertained the audience for the first nine minutes of 2018.